Nyctiphruretus
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Nyctiphruretus (Guardian of the Night), is an extinct genus of reptiles distantly related to turtles. The reptiles lived around about 250 million years ago and looked more like lizards than turtles.
Hundreds of fossils of the species Nyctiphruretus acudens were found well preserved near the Mesen River of european Russia in all stages of growth. The dentition identified that Nyctiphruretus was a herbivore. Based on the large numbers of individuals found and the sediment that they were found in,it appears that their diet consisted of aquatic plants. Adults discovered averaged 36 cm in length with a 4.4 cm skull that was crushed but recognisable.
There were two species in the genus, the type species being Nyctiphruretus acudens (Efremov, 1938) and the other species Nyctiphruretus ineptus.
[edit] References
Accessed on 13 October 2006.
- Gondwana Studios
- Frank Musters site in german
- Mikko's Taxonomy
- M. Alan Kazlev 2002 Palaeos
- Californian Geology
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